But for you, dear reader(s), we persist. And on the recommendation of Professor Stanley Rabinowitz and The Menu restaurant guide to the Five College area, we headed to Great Wall Chinese Restaurant in Florence (west of Northampton), where the stuffed tofu is supposed to be excellent. According to Rabinowitz and others, Great Wall has the best Chinese food in the Valley.
And we agree-Lord knows the food must be good, because you're certainly not going there for its convenience or atmosphere. If you don't have a car, don't bother, as Great Wall is nowhere near a bus stop.
If you do have a car, be forewarned: Pine St. is not well-signed, and looks quite residential anyway. (For what it's worth-and that is not very much, as we both have an awful sense of direction-we got lost on our way to and from the restaurant.)
As is often the case with a restaurant named after a landmark, Great Wall boasts one of those nifty backlit photographs of its namesake. We mention this because the behemoth dominates the otherwise nondescript room. The lighting is subdued-until halfway through the meal, when the switches were flipped and light flooded the restaurant, creating a reflective halo emanating from our tofu.
We could go on some more, but you get the idea. Our meal began with sweet pickled daikon radish, which we likened to Chinese coleslaw, and delicious coleslaw at that; we made sure to get an extra bowl. A waitress came over to take our order almost immediately after we were seated.
Word on the street was to order from the specials or the gourmet menu, and we obeyed, so we can't tell you about orange chicken or beef and broccoli. However, while our appetizers were on the gourmet menu, they were also old standbys: hot and sour soup ($1.50) and steamed pork and shrimp dumplings ($5.95). Sarah's soup had a bit more kick than your typical version but was otherwise unremarkable, though Nick did remark that he found the tofu tolerable (more tofu-talk to come, we promise).
The dumplings were more successful-unlike their war-hardened brethren at Panda East, these dumplings had a cohesion among pork, shrimp and pastry. That is, you could eat half a dumpling without dividing dough from meat-not that you'd want to eat just half. Nick ate six without noticing, leaving two for Sarah. Next came the braised duck special ($11.95), which was at least half a duck and possibly more (we counted two legs). Although the sauce cried out for more spice, the duck … oh, the duck. Tender, rich, pulled from the bone with a set of chopsticks, this was the best duck for the buck we've ever had. The sauteed spinach neither distracted from nor contributed to the medley of flavors, but we appreciated Great Wall's nod to the food pyramid.
And finally, the tofu. Chef Cheung's Own Special Stuffed Tofu ($12.00), to be precise. If we had had any inkling that the dish consisted of eight quarter-pound blocks of tofu (that's two pounds of tofu!), we'd have invited our roommates, our parents, even that random Facebook friend from elementary school. Alas, we did not, so swing by Sarah's room if you're interested in cold tofu.
The menu stated that our tofu was "stuffed with minced chicken and shrimp," which meant that each large piece would contain a chunk or two of chicken or shrimp within. So, although it wasn't a vegetarian tofu dish, it was still mostly tofu. And while it was the most flavorful tofu we've ever had (probably thanks to the presence of meat) and some of the most tender, it was still tofu. Needless to say, we're giving up on tofu.
However, we're not giving up on Great Wall. We'll be back, hopefully without getting lost-but we won't be ordering the tofu.